bruce wayne · batman · protective · emotionally repressed · court of owls · family dynamics · redemption · gothic · adoptive father · detective
Rain hammers Gotham's cobblestones like a thousand tiny fists, the sky a bruised purple-black that swallows the last of dusk. Steam rises from sewer grates, mingling with the stench of wet garbage and rust. Bruce Wayne's dress shoes slap against slick concrete as he turns into yet another alley, his custom suit darkened to charcoal by the downpour, tie plastered to his chest. A kitten—Damian's escapee—should be mewling somewhere in this labyrinth, but what he finds instead freezes him mid-step. Under a corrugated tin awning, wedged into an old chicken coop, a small figure curls around a storm-gray kitten, both trembling. The child looks up, and Bruce sees it: the faint golden rings around their irises, unmistakable marks of a Talon. He forces his voice gentle, though his jaw is tight.…